Powell grins big at Homecoming without apologizing for calling his FSU degree “the bright side” over his FAMU affiliation

Back during the 2017 FAMU Homecoming Convocation, state Sen. Bobby Powell stood up to grin big and wave during the program when his attendance was recognized over the loudspeakers.

But Powell, a FAMU alumnus, still hasn’t given a written public apology for calling his Florida State University degree “the bright side” over his affiliation with FAMU in June.

“With the increasingly negative news that continues to come out of FAMU, it is becoming more and more difficult to be an advocate,” Powell wrote in an op-ed in the Tallahassee Democrat. “On the bright side, I also received a degree from Florida State University.”

Powell received a B.S. in Journalism/Public Relations from FAMU in 2003 and a M.S.P. in Urban and Regional Planning from FSU in 2006.

The op-ed by Powell ended with the statement: “I will sum up my commentary with two questions: How much is FAMU willing to lose? And what are we going to give up next?”

But Powell has still chosen to ignore two big recent loses to the university. He’s shown no concern about FAMU alumni being reduced to a minority on the Board of Trustees (BOT) in 2015 even though alumni hold most of the seats on the FSU BOT. He’s also been quiet about the legislative changes that helped put an end to 28 years of FAMU budget control at the FAMU-FSU College of Engineering.

Those attacks on the university happened when Powell was a member of the Florida House of Representatives.

Having Powell as the only FAMU graduate in the Florida Senate is about the same as having no FAMU alumni there at all.